I never heard about the kit manufacturer ALAN, does it ring a bell for you?

Where are they from and how good are the kits?
My local toy store has put up a little modeling section in the store and to honest not much spectacular, mostly Italeri, Revell, Tamiya a few zvenda kits but then I saw a name I never have seen before, ALAN.

He only has 2 kits and I wondered why, so I askt him, it seems that he got those as a sample but he did not like the look of the boxes (remember that he has NO idea about modeling) and that he will stick to the "big names".

I can by them for 10 Euros a piece and I had them put aside until tomorrow, so now I want to know are they any decent?

It is a Marder II/D and a Panzer I/F

Alan is a Russian manufacturer. They make mainly WW2 German kits. They have some nice kits like the Bison II. I've got a few like the PzKpfw IIC, Wespe Sd.Kfz 124, nicely done kits. They tend to have thick parts and assemble much like the older Italeri kits like the PzKpfw 1B and Zvezda kits. Multiple flat pieces to construct the hull. 10 Euros (assuming a Euro=1USD or thereabouts) is a good price. I also have a Marder II D.

I'd say that the Alan kits that you're asking about are pretty good kits.

The Panzer IF is a nice kit. The fit of the parts is not quite Tamiya "shake and bake"; however, few kits are. This is also the only kit available in plastic and 1/35 scale.

The Marder II D kit is a bit rougher; however, it's still possible to build a decent kit. There was an excellent article in Military Miniatures in Review on rebuilding the kit into a more accurate model.

For the price of 10 Euros... you are getting a deal... Other good quality Alan kits include the Grille M and the Panzer IID.


Later,
Tim

Here's a couple of shots that show the Alan Panzer IID with the details that I added...

Roadkill,
SABOT recommended the Wespe sdkfz 124 kit and I am glad I bought it. I am one of those that cannot build Out of the Box, but the kit looks good as is and for 10 Euro, BUY IT! I plan on getting a Bison next.

Hi

Alan kits are nice.
Their new Grille kit is pretty good, and all new molds from what I gather, not the old VM/Maquette 38t molds used yet again.

Cheers
Andy

Tim, nicely done. Where do the added parts come from? I notice tan details, photo etch, etc. How does your PzKpfw II D differ from my II C?

Rob,

Thanks for the comments on model. The tan parts are the very nice Tamiya "On Vehicle Equipment" for the Panzer IV. I use that set on most of the Panzers that I build. The other brass pieces were just bits of scrap and strip brass.

The Panzer IID was mostly a completely different vehicle. The chassis was a complete torsion bar suspension. Where as on the C model, there were leaf springs on the side of the hull.

The tracks and roadwheels were also completely different. The D model had a wider, two part road wheel while the C model had a narrower, single piece roadwheel.

Other differences were the engine, equipment stowage... the list goes on.

The kits actually share some parts in the area of the turret and the tools.

I enjoyed building that model... now if I could just get the markings and weathering finished.

Later,
Tim

Ronny:

Alan is a Rusian brand. I only have one kit of them, a Panzer I Ausf F. I don´t build it yet, but the detail is very nice and peolple who build it here told me that you can obtain a very nice looking model with a bit of care an dry fitting while building.
The thing is this brand has models that you can´t find with other manufacturers.